I eat dead animals for breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between. I eat them awake, asleep, while driving – I’d eat them in the shower if I could get away with it. Few things are better than having your food look back at you, the entire head, roasted with a frozen grin; while someone saws off a slice of cheek and passes it around the table.

Once I went vegetarian for six months straight. You know what I ate? French fries, cake, bread, cheese pizza – everything that was neither meat, nor vegetable. Without that muscle, that fat, and sometimes the crunching bones, legumes just didn’t give me what I needed, what I craved. Vegetables don’t properly get stuck in my teeth. Muscle fibers hang on for dear life, wedging themselves between molars to avoid that final acid digestion. Sure I can fill my stomach with plants but I won’t be satisfied. I’m a freakin samurai and something needs to die in order for me to feel content. (Well… only when I lose my Zen.)

Green Sprout does not serve meat.

Sure, their menu ‘says’ beef, or chicken, or fish – but no. Green Sprout does not serve meat. So go ahead, order your orange chicken. Order your sesame beef. Order as if they actually do serve meat. Pretend like the fake tofu is going to give you that feeling of dead animal. Pretend like the texture is going to come close, as if tofu could ever mimic meat from the best rice fed cows drunk on saki.

Give up. Make your vegetarian girlfriend happy for once and actually go to a ‘vegetarian’ restaurant. Oh, when the food arrives after a short wait, take that bite. Push the vegetables aside and go for that fake meat. Come on, it can’t touch the real stuff, why even pretend? Just get it over with. Pop one of those chik-pattie wannabes into your mouth and move on.

Okay, I’ll admit it, the fake meat is pretty good here. It’s so good that it doesn’t even taste like meat. In fact, considering that many vegetarians are vegetarian not for ethical reasons, but because they just don’t like the taste and texture of meat, this is perfect – for them. Sure it’s not kobe beef, or free range fowl, or Alaskan wild salmon, but that’s okay. We’re giving the wildlife a break today.

Come here often enough and they’ll remember you. Something Green Sprout has over Top Spice and Ru-Sans (the other two restaurants above and next door) is that the people here will get to know you if give them a chance, if you want to know them. Overhearing the server talk to the other tables, half of the menu should be off limits. Stick with the basics. Stick with stuff you’ll find at nearly every other regular chinese restaurant. The fake meat here is made up of different types of tofu, prepared in several ways using simple tricks such as freezing, and drying and switching with pork (in my dreams). Giving it less of a tofu texture and more of a… meat substitute texture.

Green Sprout is an odd restaurant to me. I understand what they’re doing, but why do it? I just don’t get it. But don’t get me wrong, the food here is good, I just wish it had been something that could fight back. Pigs can fight back right? Chickens? Salmon? Sure they can. Um. Nevermind.

I just returned to Bali from a quick trip to Singapore and want to share something inspiring.

I arrived in Singapore on Sunday, which happens to be market night in Little India. Amongst an ocean of ultra modern buildings, non-stop advertising and super high technology, Little India is one of the few places in the city which still has some character. I took a walk through the busy, colorful streets full of people and fresh fruit and vegetables for sale. In a gap between the crowds I spotted a sign for a vegetarian restaurant called Ananda Bhavan and decided to have a look.

Indian restaurants aren’t known for having a lot of raw food options, but I was able to find a few dishes that worked for me. The food was average but what really struck me though was the calm and peaceful feeling inside the restaurant. In my experience, that’s common to vegetarian places around the world.

As I was about to leave, I went downstairs to pay and I spotted this quote from M.K. Gandhi painted in white stylized letters on the dark green wall:

“An examination of the structure of the human body leads to the conclusion that man is intended by nature to live on a vegetable diet. There is the closest affinity between the organs of the human body and those of fruit eating animals. The monkey for example is so similar to man in shape and structure and it is a fruit eating animal. Its teeth and stomach are just like the teeth and stomach of man, while those of carnivorous animals, as for instance the lion and tiger are entirely different.”

Alongside this quote is also painted Gandhi’s comparison of the physiology of meat eaters and vegetable eaters:

Meat eaters:

Have claws
Don’t have skin pores – so perspire through the tongue
Have sharp teeth for tearing and no molars for grinding
Have an intestinal tract 3 times the length of the body – so meat can pass quickly, before rotting
Have very strong hydrochloric acid in the stomach

Vegetable eaters:

Have nails instead of claws
Perspire through the skin
Have no sharp front teeth and have rear molars for grinding
Have an intestinal tract 10-12 times body length
Have stomach acid 20 times weaker than meat eaters

Based on these comparisons it’s quickly clear which group humans naturally belong to. I’ve belonged to that group now for the past 15 years and I’m really glad I have.

As much as I’m inspired by this restaurant so proudly presenting Gandhi’s argument in favor of vegetarianism, I want to make one important addition that can help you save some time and get you healthier faster.

Interestingly, there’s not a significant difference in health between meat eaters and vegetable eaters in the wild. Both tend to live healthy and disease free until the final 5% of their lives. Also both of them eat all of their food raw.

And, in my experience, that’s really the key – keeping it as raw as possible. Yes, we are physiologically designed to be vegetable and fruit eaters – raw vegetable and fruit eaters.

To me it’s become so clear and makes so much sense. I was a 75% cooked food vegetarian for 7 years before discovering raw foods. During that time I ate tofu, beans, lentils, whole grain breads, brown rice and all the other foods I thought were really healthy. The problem with all of them is that they were so heavily cooked and devitalized.

I did feel that leaving meat out of my diet helped raise my awareness, kindness and compassion pretty much straight away, but I didn’t experience major physical health benefits like weight loss, clearer skin, improved digestion, less mucous, greater immunity and more until I became a 95% raw food vegetarian.

If I could turn the clock back in my own life, I would start with raw vegetarian instead of just vegetarian. The difference is truly that big.

So, if Mr. Gandhi’s analysis and words resonate with you and you feel pulled to try a vegetarian diet, I’d encourage you to look toward a raw vegetarian diet first. I know you’ll be glad you did.

One last thing you should know. I regularly hold raw food seminars and classes to help people learn how to consciously transition to a raw foods diet. You may have already been to one. But since not everyone can come to one of my classes I’ve put my entire course manual together as an eBook that anyone can download and learn from starting today.

So you’ve made up your mind to stop eating meat and become a vegetarian. Good for you! Vegetarianism is a much healthier form of eating but in the beginning it may be difficult to find enough variety to stop you getting bored. I’ve listed a few ideas that may help as you take your first steps to becoming a vegetarian.

1. Do your research
Buy vegetarian cookery books and magazines. Surf the net for vegetarian websites and join forums where you can get advice and swap recipes.

2. Build a portfolio of your favourite recipes
Try out recipes and if you like them paste them into a folder or scrapbook. Soon you will have a list of about 15 to 20 of your favourite recipes which you can cook on a rotation basis. Find ones you can freeze too for a quick fix when you’re in a hurry.

3. Eat out!
That’s right, I said eat out. Find where your local vegetarian restaurant is and go, simple as that. You don’t have to go on your own either many mainstream restaurants have great vegetarian selections these days. Just ask when you book. If you find something you really like ask if the chef will let you have the recipe. They’re not all Gordon Ramsey so you won’t get shouted at.

4. Take it easy!
Don’t go cold turkey (if you pardon the pun). Ease yourself in to the vegetarian lifestyle. A good way to start is by replacing some of your favourites like burgers and sausages with the vegetarian substitute kind. All supermarkets stock these nowadays. In the UK Quorn and the Linda McCartney ranges are very popular and very tasty.

5. One day at a time
This is a big lifestyle change for you so take it slowly. After you have integrated your substitute items into your diet why not and you’re feeling OK with this, why not have one day a week that is totally vegetarian with no substitutes at all. Slowly build this up to every other day until you’re finally totally vegetarian.